By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Risk aversion ruled the trading floor on Wednesday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimmed its global growth forecast for this year and 2020, affecting both the Philippine peso and the local equities.
Amid the uncertainties, the local currency ended the day at 51.175, little changed from its 51.135 close Tuesday.
The peso opened the day weaker at 51.225 from the previous day’s 51.12 start.
It improved to 51.17 mid-day but also weakened to 51.295, resulting in an average of 51.239.
Volume surged to USD1.17 billion from the USD754.1 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.10 and 51.30 Thursday.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 1.09 percent, or 89.97 points, to 8,161.49 points.
Aside from concerns about reduced global growth, BPI Research also attributed this to the sell-off after a major fast food chain’s announcement.
It was referring to Jollibee Food Corporation’s (JFC) announcement that it will be investing USD100 million in a new Singapore-based holdings company to fully acquire California-based Coffee Ben and Tea Leaf through a USD350 million deal.
After the day’s trading, Jollibee shares declined by 6.74 percent, which analysts traced to concerns regarding Coffee Bean’s weak performance in recent years.
This news came alongside the IMF world economic outlook (WEO) report forecasting weaker global growth, with projections cut by 0.1 percentage points to 3.2 percent this year and 3.5 percent next year, most of the other counters in the local bourse ended on the red.
All Shares was down by 0.70 percent, or 34.71 points, to 4,956.24 points.
Industrial posted the biggest drop with 1.86 percent and was trailed by Financials, 1.40 percent; Holding Firms, 0.89 percent; Property, 0.67 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.53 percent.
Only the Services index ended the day up after rising by 0.31 percent.
Volume reached 2.89 billion shares amounting to PHP6.44 billion.
Decliners surpassed advancers at 125 to 73 while 57 shares were unchanged.
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